About cakes and vegetables
by hiriki
Summary: Post-series fic. It's Saruhiko's birthday, and Misaki might or might not do something about it. (Rated T for language)


**I had convinced myself that I should wait for the last episode to see how things would go but I CAN'T DO THAT. The end will probably depress me to no end - specially if there's death involved, and I'm pretty sure there'll be - so I decided to write it while I'm still on a good mood. Enjoy! (this fic was also posted on my tumblr, hiriki.)**

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For Fushimi Saruhiko, sleeping always had something to do with cold sheets and uncomfortable pillows, and maybe a headache in the morning. His bed was too big for his thin frame, and there were some nights were he'd roll in bed for hours and nothing more, unable to close his eyes and peacefully rest. That's how it should be – that was something he was used to.

And maybe that's why he simply couldn't get used to the warm feeling of a suddenly-way-too-cramped bed, the rhythm of another breath aside from his own and his blurry vision staring at something that looked so much like the back of Misaki's neck.

"Mi~sa~ki~", he whispered in his usual tone while tracing an invisible line on Misaki's neck with his index finger.

The smaller boy made a muffled annoyed sound, and tried to hide his neck under the sheets.

"I'm going to attack you if you don't wake up", Saruhiko insisted, using his feet to steal the sheets for himself.

"Damn… monkey…" Misaki took back his part of the sheets with a violent tug. "Just… fucking sleep…"

Saruhiko smirked.

"Oh, but it's so late already." He started to play with Misaki's hair. "Is it really okay to oversleep like that, Misaki~?"

Yeah, those were the magic words. It took Misaki a second to get up in his own violent way, kicking the sheets around him and losing a few strands of hair that remained between Saruhiko's fingers.

"Oh crap, I better not be fucking late to-" He suddenly stopped talking when his eyes met the small digital clock at Saruhiko's side of the bed.

_6:15 AM._

"You fucking monkey!" There was anger melting into Misaki's eyes, and Saruhiko smiled when the boy rushed to him, ready to strangle his old best friend with the sheets around them. "You're a fucking liar, why do I even trust you-"

"You're too loud, Misaki, you're going to wake the entire neighborhood-"

"FUCK THE NEIGHBORHOOD!" One of his legs got tangled in the sheets, and he started to struggle to free himself. "I'll fucking _kill you_ for waking me up so fucking early!"

Saruhiko carefully got away from Misaki's angry fists, and rolled to the other side of the bed in order to free Misaki's leg.

"But, you see, Misaki, it's rude to kill me on the very day of my birthday. " He paused to watch Misaki's expression – a mix of anger and annoyance. "And it's not even _that_ early, it's-"

"It might not be early for you, Mr. I-Work-at-the-Stupid-Government, but it sure is for _me_! And you're not even working today, so why do you need to be up so early in the morning?!"

"Who told you that? Of course I'm going to work today, Misaki~" He started to fold the sheets in a slow pace.

"What the _hell_? You don't get a break even on your birthday?" The anger on Misaki's eyes quickly faded away, being replaced by disbelief.

"It's fine with me."

"Ha! You government people are all crazy. If you were still a part of HOMRA, you'd-"

Misaki cut his words abruptly, looking away from Saruhiko. It's been a year since they started to rebuild their old friendship, and it wasn't an easy task. Honestly, Misaki always thought it was pretty much impossible, but since _that day_ – since they fought together against the Black Dog, protecting and helping each other like they used to do in the old times, and being miserably defeated and fearing for each other's life – since Saruhiko told him the real reason – the stupid, childish reason, his ugliest secret - why he left HOMRA, Misaki knew they could do it. He knew he was the only one who Saruhiko truly listened to, the only one who could bear with him without growing tired or annoyed, the only person in the world that Saruhiko ever cared about. He was ready to show him that he could go on, even if he thought that there was no hero for him in that world. Misaki wanted to be just like Mikoto-san – a strong, undefeatable figure who protected those around him.

Misaki wanted to be Saruhiko's hero.

And a good way to start his path to greatness would be breaking that awkward silence that grew up so quickly between them.

"Well, I'm going to fix this!" The shorter boy smirked, and reached out to Saruhiko's cellphone lying next to the clock.

"Huh?" Saruhiko watched as Misaki analyzed his contacts. "Fix what?"

"Found it!" The boy smiled to himself, and Saruhiko could tell he was about to call someone.

"Misaki, what-"

"What is it, Fushimi?" The calm voice of Awashima Seri could be heard quite clearly, even though the phone was still in Misaki's hands.

Saruhiko couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance. That'd be troublesome.

"Yo, Miss!" Misaki greeted her cheerfully, something that not matched the evil grin on his face. "Yata's here! I need a favor from you."

Saruhiko could almost hear Seri sighing.

"…what are you doing with Fushimi's cellphone? Is he okay?"

"Tell her I'm dead", suggested Saruhiko calmly, but loud enough for Seri to hear him.

"Fushimi! What-"

"He's fine, Miss!" Saruhiko could tell that Yata was suppressing a laugh thanks to his last commentary, and the younger boy grinned in response. _Just like the old days._ "Actually, today's his birthday. That's why I wanted to ask you to let him skip work just for today."

"And why would I do that?"

Saruhiko clicked his tongue again.

"Hang up, Misaki. It's no use. This will only make you look more stupid than usual. "

"Shut up monkey, stop telling me what to do!" Misaki glared at him, and Saruhiko furrowed his brows. _Just like their old and good rivalry._ "Huh? N-no, I was talking to him, not to you, Miss! Yeah, yeah… but you see, it only happens once in a year, so-"

"I'm pretty sure that Fushimi said once that he doesn't care about his birthday."

"Oh, he did?" Misaki asked as he glared at Saruhiko. The younger boy shrugged. "Well, ignore what he said, he's an idiot. The thing is, it's just for a day, so…"

"Do you have any plans with him?" Awashima asked bluntly.

"Huh?" Misaki blinked. "Uh, I-I don't really know, I mean, it's _his_ day, s-so he's the one who gets to decide these kinds of things-"

"I'm not letting him skip an entire day of work for nothing. If you have any plans with him, tell me, and I shall think about it."

Misaki blushed, and Saruhiko studied his face carefully. If he knew Misaki well – and he _sure_ did - , he'd say that the boy was hiding something. He was a terrible liar, and, as expected, equally terribly at hiding things.

"B-but, you see, we're still discussing that…"

"Then I'm afraid he'll have to come and do his job normally. I can't let anyone skip work without a good reason." Awashima said calmly.

"Isn't his birthday a good reason?!" Misaki looked like he was about to burst into flames – of shame or anger, Saruhiko couldn't tell, given his red cheeks and annoyed face being equally intense.

"Not really, unless he have _concrete_ plans for his birthday. That's how it works."

"But- but-" Saruhiko felt a weird urge to laugh while watching Misaki's eyes dancing from him to the cellphone, cheeks blushing furiously while doing so. "W-we-we're going to bake a cake!"

The room fell into deep silence. Saruhiko's eyes twitched with disbelief – that was the craziest lie he has ever heard. Awashima wouldn't buy it. Sure, they were trying to be close friends again, but even for _them_, in their current situation, that was-

"…Fine."

Misaki and Saruhiko exchanged a surprised glance.

"Are you saying…" The vanguard of HOMRA wanted a confirmation.

"Yes. It's fine if he skips work today." Awashima sighed heavily. "It's not like we have a lot going on on our hands, anyway. However-"

"H-However?"

_Here she comes_, thought Saruhiko.

"I want you to take a picture of the cake and send it to me as proof. "

And again, there was a heavy silence in the room.

"W-will do!" Said Misaki, and Saruhiko glanced at him with annoyance. He was taking that lie way too far – it was dangerous to play like that with Awashima. "Thank you, Miss! See ya later!"

He hung up the phone, and Saruhiko kept staring at him.

"What the hell, Misaki? She'll kill you if she finds out you're lying."

"W-Who's lying, monkey?!" His cheeks were bright red again. "I had it planned already! A-and if you're not going to bake this cake with me, I'll bake it myself!"

Before Saruhiko could reply, Misaki had already fled through the door, hiding his bed hair under his beanie on his way out. Saruhiko couldn't bring himself to get up from the bed, staring in the space in disbelief.

Misaki was doing so much for him.

He chuckled lightly.

It's been a few months since Misaki started sleeping over on his house. At first, both of them thought the idea was ridiculous, until they accidentally slept together on the cold floor after playing games and arguing for a whole night. Since then, their bodies seemed to remember the old feeling of sleeping together like they used to do in middle school times – just sleeping and nothing more (though Saruhiko wouldn't mind doing _more_).

It all started after the Colorless King was defeated, leaving many wounded SCEPTER4 and HOMRA members – Misaki and Saruhiko amongst them. After teaming up against Yatogami Kuroh, both were defeated without much struggle, even though their teamwork was still as great as ever. He could still remember how terrified Misaki was, seeing his old best friend bleeding on the floor, with some broken limbs and a messy uniform. Misaki himself wasn't looking much better – he broke a leg and couldn't even walk properly, not to mention how wounded the rest of his body was. Both feared for each other's life, and that was the moment they realized how much they needed to sort out their differences. At some point that he couldn't remember well – perhaps when an awkward Misaki visited him on the hospital -, Saruhiko was able to tell him everything about his reasons to leave HOMRA. At first, he was annoyed at how Misaki seemed horrified – he sure didn't want his pity. But, for his surprise, his old friend started to scream with him, calling him an "idiot" for not "making things clear" and claiming to hate him a lot. One, day, he showed up at Saruhiko's doorstep, and the younger boy couldn't be more pleased. He took care of Saruhiko for a while after he left the hospital, since the SCEPTER4 member has no family or friends to look after him. He even found out about Saruhiko's favorite pillow – his small, cute pillow with a picture of Misaki printed on it. He could still remember how much the pillow freaked him out ("WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW DID YOU GET THIS WEIRD THING?! CREEPY MONKEY! I'M GONNA BURN IT! I'M TOTALLY BURNING IT!"), and the memory would always make him chuckle a bit.

Being liked by Misaki… it felt so weird, yet so good.

"Say, Misaki, you really hate me, don't you?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Why do you ask?" The smaller boy answered, his back turned to the other while he was busy peeling onions.

"Nothing in special, except for the fact that you made me a _breakfast_ full of _vegetables_."

Misaki turned around, glancing at the food. He had cooked for Saruhiko before, and he'd never complained about his food. Things were different when vegetables were included, though.

"C'mon, Saru, they're healthy! And I made them really tasty, so you should totally try it."

"I don't care if they're healthy or not, no one eats _goddamn spinach_ on their breakfast." He paused to shot an annoyed look to the other boy on his kitchen. "Plus, it's my birthday. The least I deserve is a day free of any kind of disgusting green food."

"It's exactly because it's your birthday that you should eat it!" Misaki grinned happily, and Saruhiko felt tempted to throw his spinach at his face. "Your birthday is a time of change, you're already 20, so stop acting like a fucking kid, being afraid of vegetables and shit like that!"

"I'm not _afraid_ of them, I just don't _like_ them-"

"Well, you don't like anything at all, so that's not a valid argument!"

Saruhiko sighed, resisting to the urge of clicking his tongue.

"…That's not even true. I like Misaki a lot."

Misaki flinched. That bastard. How dared he mess up with his goddamn feelings?

"…If you don't eat them, I'll put them all inside your cake." Misaki grinned.

Saruhiko clicked his tongue, and this was like a victory sign for the other boy.

"Tch. You're annoying, Misaki."

"Well, it's about _damn_ time that you get to eat your own food! We're not middle-school students anymore! Learn to do things by yourself!"

"So you want me to do just like you did and shove you away from my life like _you_ did with me?"

There was a cold tone in Saruhiko's voice. Misaki clenched his fists, and something inside him felt weird. The wild part of him wanted to scream with Saruhiko, to kick him until he could understand things properly.

But the other part of him had always belonged to that stupid monkey, and couldn't do this to him.

"I don't want you to do anything like that. I just want you to realize that _you_ are the most important person in your own life, that you should be able to handle things by yourself-"

"It's you. Not me." Saruhiko mumbled.

"Huh?"

"The most important person in my life. It's you, not me."

It was so hard for Saruhiko to be sincere about that. Misaki just wanted to open a hole on the floor so he could hide his own head in it, but he couldn't ignore that goddamn monkey when it was so hard for him to be sincere about his feelings.

It's not like Saruhiko expected Misaki to blush and get all nervous, but he wasn't expecting what came next either.

"Well, SCREW THE VEGETABLES THEN." Misaki punched the table with so much effort that the spinach jumped. The older boy had a slight tone of pink on his cheeks, which made the whole scene even funnier. "You're the one baking the cake today."

"Huh? But-"

"I'M GONNA SHOW YOU-" Misaki took a deep breath before he continued: "I'm gonna fucking show you that you can do AMAZING SHIT by yourself. Like a fucking cake."

For some weird reason, Saruhiko felt his face a little hotter.

_What._

"But I don't even-"

"I'LL TEACH YOU." Saruhiko wanted to ask why Misaki was screaming the words out of his mouth, but his brain was too much of a mess for that. "And you're going to take a FUCKING PICTURE of that FUCKING CAKE and show it to yourself so you can see it and remember that you can do stuff."

"I know that I can do stuff, thank you-"

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Misaki threw a serious glare at him. "You can't fool me anymore! You're always trying to sound cool and shit, but deep inside, you're just a depressed guy! I mean, you don't even consider yourself in the first place! Saying stuff like I'm the most important in your life, WHAT THE HELL?!" He blushed a little more, and Saruhiko felt like squeezing his cheeks. "_You_ should come first! It's just wrong to say that kind of thing!"

Saruhiko smiled to himself. That would never happen. Nothing would be more important than Misaki, no matter how many cakes he baked.

"Misaki?"

"W-what?"

"Thank you."

"For what?!"

"For you."

It wasn't wrong.

It was love.


End file.
